Battery operated electronic hand-held devices such as mobile phones should generally be convenient to carry along and to use. PDA's and other devices are commonly provided with a user interface that is movable between an opened and closed configuration. For instance, a keypad may be extended by sliding out some or all of the keys or a hinge may be provided in order to enable compacting of the device for easy pocketing and opening up the device so that a display and keypad become conveniently spaced apart. In optimal case, a rectangular handheld device having a given footprint on a desk may have doubly the area of its footprint available for disposing a keypad and a display when the device is extended.
One new trend is that young people are ever more often using their mobile phones as a clock instead of a watch. The reason for this is mostly convenience; it is found vain to wear a watch for occasionally checking the time when in office work the time is often constantly shown by a computer screen and when on the move the time can be found from a mobile phone. Another example of the desire to integrate different functions to a common device is that many advanced mobile phones now provide the functions of a digital camera, camcorder, music player, PDA device and even a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigator. Generally, the trend has been to make ever more use of digital data processing circuitry of a mobile phone to provide new functions ranging from a clock to a GPS device.
Another, already older trend in mobile phones design is to manufacture ever better looking phones which may have metal covers or otherwise glossy surfaces. External antennas have largely given way for internal antennas. The edges of mobile phones are often rounded. Consequentially, on taking a phone from a pocket or from a hand bag, it may be difficult for a user to get a good grip of the phone so as to securely lift the phone without a considerable risk of dropping and damaging the phone.
Further, mobile phones are being used for a multitude of different tasks in addition to placing phone calls and sending short messages. For instance, a user may attend to a video phone call or video conference, watch a video, follow a television broadcast, or read a digital book on a display of the mobile phone. When watching at a display of a phone for an extended period of time, a problem may arise from positioning the phone in a suitable angle. Simply laying the phone on a desk may either result in an oblige viewing angle at which particularly color displays lose some of their image quality, or the user may be forced to watch the display from above in which case the user should remember to frequently pause watching to stretch her back and neck. On the other hand, mobile phones should be truly portable. Hence, dedicated stands or cradles for holding the phone in a conveniently tilted backward angle would sacrifice the aim of portability.